Q. Did the KJV unintentionally obscure a strong proof of the deity of Christ at Acts 7:59?
A. No.
Acts 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
A late-September discussion in a Facebook group found itself focused on Acts 7:59. The persistent pertinacious anti-KJVO pugilist Rick Norris punctually presented himself with arguments available. He quickly unveiled the master question: “Did the KJV unintentionally obscure a strong proof of the deity of Christ at Acts 7:59?” Witnesses were called to the stand and sworn in.
Joseph A. Alexander, testifying with due deference to the old translations, allows that the translators of Geneva and King James “no doubt [had] a good design, but with a very bad effect.” What bad effect, Brother Alexander? “Why, of course, these translators utterly concealed ‘a strong proof of the divinity of Christ.’” David Brown concurs, under oath, “A most unhappy supplement of our translators is this word ‘God’ here; as if while addressing the Son, he was really calling upon the Father. The sense is perfectly clear without any supplement at all…” . Conclusively, Albert Barnes asserts in his testimony, “The word God is not in the original and should not have been in the translation” (p. 428).
Supporting witnesses include Tyndale’s, Matthew’s, Great, and Bishop’s Bibles (which did not translate the verse the KJV way), as well as the 1842 “Baptist Bible” (The Holy Bible, Being the English Version of the Old and New Testaments Made by Order of King James, Carefully Revised and Amended by Several Biblical Scholars), and Baptist scholar A. T. Robertson. Apparently only part of the legal team, Rick Norris does not actually testify to how he believes the question should be answered, merely aggregating the testimony of others (an appeal to authority?).
Having read the King James Bible for as long as I have been able to read, it never occurred to me that the King James translation of Acts 7:59 somehow obscured the deity of Christ in Acts 7:59. No, far from it! I have always thought that it clearly teaches the deity of Christ – calling Christ God!
If I wanted to be picayunish, I could accuse various commentators who are objecting to “God” in verse 59 with obscuring a strong proof of the deity of Christ. Notice two comments easily located on BibleHub:
“And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God] The last word is supplied to make the sense clear in English, but from the words which follow it is better to read ‘the Lord’ instead of ‘God,’ for it is the Lord Jesus who is invoked.” (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges)
Seriously, Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, are you saying it is the Lord Jesus rather than God who is invoked? Don’t you believe Jesus is God?
“Calling upon God.
“God is not in the Greek. From the vision just described, and from the prayer which follows, it is evident that Jesus is meant.” (Vincent’s Word Studies)
Well, Mr. Vincent, do you mean it is evident that Jesus is meant instead of God? Don’t you believe Jesus is God?
Why do they comment as if Jesus is not God? See the point? I don’t think they mean to obscure the fact that Jesus is God, but it can be taken that way. Why not turn Norris’s devices against these commentators in the way he wishes to turn it against the King James translation? At times he clamors for “just weights and measures” – except when he doesn’t.
Let’s consider a few other things.
For the record, this is a translational issue, not a textual variant. The Textus Receptus, Critical, & Majority Greek texts have the same reading here: και ελιθοβολουν τον στεφανον επικαλουμενον και λεγοντα κυριε ιησου δεξαι το πνευμα μου.
επικαλουμενον when translated calling upon or calling on into English expects an object. The word “God” is supplied to make the sense clear in English, and is appropriately italicized in the KJB. A number of translations add that object for smooth English reading, some choosing “God” and some “Lord.” The commentary produced under the editorship of Charles John Ellicott, chairman of the NT company editing the KJV in the 1870s, admits as much: “The word ‘God,’ in the sentence ‘calling upon God,’ it should be noted, is, as the italics show, an insertion to complete the sense.” (See BibleHub link)
Notice the following translations of Acts 7:59, many available on Bible Gateway.
- WYC: And thei stonyden Steuene, that clepide God to help, seiynge, Lord Jhesu, resseyue my spirit. [And they stoned Stephen, that called God to help, saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.] (Though Wycliffe was translating from the Latin, the Vulgate’s I have researched do not have the word “God.” So this is in Wycliffe also an issue of English translation, not Latin vs. Greek. Note: This is verse 58 in the Vulgate.)
- GNV 1557 NT: And they stoned Steven, who called on God, & sayd, Lord Jesu receive my sprite.
- GNV: And they stoned Steven, who called on God, & said, Lord Jesus receive my spirit.
- AKJV: And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
- RV: And they stoned Stephen, calling upon the Lord, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
- ASV: And they stoned Stephen, calling upon the Lord, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
- AMP: They continued stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive and accept and welcome my spirit!”
- NASB: They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
- JB PHILLIPS: So they stoned Stephen while he called upon God, and said, “Jesus, Lord, receive my spirit!”
- WE: They kept on throwing stones at Stephen. He spoke to God and said, “Oh, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
- NKJV: And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
- GNT: They kept on stoning Stephen as he called out to the Lord, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
- NASB1995: They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
- CJB: As they were stoning him, Stephen called out to God, “Lord Yeshua! Receive my spirit!”
- JUB: And they stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
- OJB: And they went on stoning Stefanos as he called upon Hashem, saying, “Adoneinu, receive my neshamah.”
- WILLIAM D. MOUNCE: They kept stoning Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
- MEV: They stoned Stephen as he was calling on God, praying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
- NMB: And they stoned Stephen, who was calling on the Lord and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!
- EMT (Esposito): And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
The Acts of the Apostles Explained, Joseph Addison Alexander, pp. 311-312.
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments, New Testament, Volume I, Jamieson, Fausset, Brown, p. 487.
Notes Explanatory And Practical On The Acts Of The Apostles, Albert Barnes, p. 130.
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